Page 158 - big friday
P. 158
huge crowds listening to loudspeakers outside. I am unable to understand Hebrew, but the
grave, quiet audience and the non-demagogic character of the speeches were impressive.
The dramatic moment came with huge applause for Israel Galilee, the vigorous young
Hagana leader who seems to be the coming man and rival of the new Premier, David Ben-
Gurion. The demotion of Galilee as Ben-Gurion took over the War Ministry seems to be
the political sensation of the Yishuv. The powerful old man and his young rival look much
alike – short, stocky, broad shouldered, with big heads. Both look like men not easily
moved or shaken.
Afterward, at the crowded bar of the smart Park Hotel where there was dancing to an
American-style swing band, a touch of Hagana khaki among the dancers was the only sign
of war, and later, at Tel Aviv's Greenwich-Villagey Café Cassit, the hangout of Bohemian
artistic and journalistic crowd, the only sign of war was Hagana boys in town from various
missions.
I know the war goes on. A great battle was under way at Bab el Wad to clear the Jerusalem
road, and the Sternists were rumored to have kidnapped two high Hagana officers here in
retaliation for the arrest of Sternists in Haifa Saturday protecting the port area.
But in the sunny streets here swarming with busy folk, there is no feeling of anxiety.
There is a great pride in speaking to visitors; a deep confidence in themselves, and the
chief danger seems to be the infernal bicyclists whizzing down on one unawares in the
streets, their bells jangling.
…Jaffa today is literally a dead city, abandoned by its people, police, and government. To
propose here to visit Jaffa creates the same kind of fascinated alarm as a proposed visit to
Palestine does in New York, for Jaffa now is a haunted place in the eyes of Tel Aviv.
T o reach Jaffa, it is first necessary to obtain a pass from Hagana. The pass enables one
to go by taxi out on the Jaffa road to the Hagana road block […] into the no-man's land
between the Jews and the British road block on the other side. But to reach the other side
one must take a detour on a dirt road winding through slum backyards where no life stirs,
not even a stray chicken or dog. Every few feet along the way are crude wooden crosses
with one warning word – "mines", planted by the British.
]…[The British press officer in Tel Aviv, himself a newspaperman and friendly to the
Jewish cause and the only British official still operating in Tel Aviv, was good enough to
come along to help me run this British gauntlet.
]…[We were escorted through a barbed-wire maze on the sidewalk into the Jaffa
headquarters of the C.I.D. (Criminal Investigating Department), the FBI of the British
mandatory government, where a rather grim officer said that it was not safe to walk about
on the deserted streets without an armed escort.
Among the perhaps 2000 which are left of Jaffa's 70,000 people, are not only Arab looters
awaiting their chance when the British leave, but also Iraqi deserters, some Bosnian
Moslems and Chetniks (followers of the later Gen. Mikhailovich of Yugoslavia) and a
few Nazis who joined the Arab cause and who still remain behind foraging in the empty
156 The Friday That Changed Destiny
grave, quiet audience and the non-demagogic character of the speeches were impressive.
The dramatic moment came with huge applause for Israel Galilee, the vigorous young
Hagana leader who seems to be the coming man and rival of the new Premier, David Ben-
Gurion. The demotion of Galilee as Ben-Gurion took over the War Ministry seems to be
the political sensation of the Yishuv. The powerful old man and his young rival look much
alike – short, stocky, broad shouldered, with big heads. Both look like men not easily
moved or shaken.
Afterward, at the crowded bar of the smart Park Hotel where there was dancing to an
American-style swing band, a touch of Hagana khaki among the dancers was the only sign
of war, and later, at Tel Aviv's Greenwich-Villagey Café Cassit, the hangout of Bohemian
artistic and journalistic crowd, the only sign of war was Hagana boys in town from various
missions.
I know the war goes on. A great battle was under way at Bab el Wad to clear the Jerusalem
road, and the Sternists were rumored to have kidnapped two high Hagana officers here in
retaliation for the arrest of Sternists in Haifa Saturday protecting the port area.
But in the sunny streets here swarming with busy folk, there is no feeling of anxiety.
There is a great pride in speaking to visitors; a deep confidence in themselves, and the
chief danger seems to be the infernal bicyclists whizzing down on one unawares in the
streets, their bells jangling.
…Jaffa today is literally a dead city, abandoned by its people, police, and government. To
propose here to visit Jaffa creates the same kind of fascinated alarm as a proposed visit to
Palestine does in New York, for Jaffa now is a haunted place in the eyes of Tel Aviv.
T o reach Jaffa, it is first necessary to obtain a pass from Hagana. The pass enables one
to go by taxi out on the Jaffa road to the Hagana road block […] into the no-man's land
between the Jews and the British road block on the other side. But to reach the other side
one must take a detour on a dirt road winding through slum backyards where no life stirs,
not even a stray chicken or dog. Every few feet along the way are crude wooden crosses
with one warning word – "mines", planted by the British.
]…[The British press officer in Tel Aviv, himself a newspaperman and friendly to the
Jewish cause and the only British official still operating in Tel Aviv, was good enough to
come along to help me run this British gauntlet.
]…[We were escorted through a barbed-wire maze on the sidewalk into the Jaffa
headquarters of the C.I.D. (Criminal Investigating Department), the FBI of the British
mandatory government, where a rather grim officer said that it was not safe to walk about
on the deserted streets without an armed escort.
Among the perhaps 2000 which are left of Jaffa's 70,000 people, are not only Arab looters
awaiting their chance when the British leave, but also Iraqi deserters, some Bosnian
Moslems and Chetniks (followers of the later Gen. Mikhailovich of Yugoslavia) and a
few Nazis who joined the Arab cause and who still remain behind foraging in the empty
156 The Friday That Changed Destiny
